Posts Tagged ‘observation’

You are a unique person. That much we have establish thus far. But who are you? How do you define yourself? What are your special traits and characteristics that make you so special that there is no one exactly like you? You know they exist. You just need to give it some thought and put it in writing.

I believe that every person has two sets of special traits and characteristics. One that is constant and one is changing all the time. You evolve throughout time and your traits and characteristics evolve with you. You are having new experiences which mold and change you. You pick up new perceptions and new beliefs.

You are changing but also well rooted.

For this week’s journaling prompt I suggest to take a moment and make these two lists. Your constants and your variables. You can also concentrate on just one of your lists.

I wrote about my changing personality and created a layout out of it. You can have a closer look at my journaling here:

Everything is changing during the holiday season. Life takes a festive coat out of its closet and wear it for at least a month or so. Everything looks differently, the food is different, there is a unique aroma in the air and a one-of-a-kind mood – a jolly holiday mood. The best description I can find for the total effect of the holidays is: “Merry Everything“.

For this week’s journaling prompt I ask you to open your eyes and register all the changes the holiday season brings with it.

Don’t let those fantastic changes slip by unnoticed. Don’t rush through that fantastic season, but take heed of every little thing that is different from your everyday life.

A while back I posted a series of journaling prompts designed to hone our observation skills:

Use those observation skills for recording the impression that the holiday season leaves upon you. If you followed the observation series before and wrote down your observations, you can also contrast and compare the everyday life to the festive days of the holidays.

Share –

Leave a comment and share your observations of the holiday season with me.

The music we hear everyday blends seamlessly into our daily routine, so it is easy to miss it or even to refer to it as “noise” rather than music.

However this music can be beautiful, if you just take notice. It offers a symphony of sounds, differing in depth and in length, different tones echoing each other in harmony, or sometimes in disharmony which grabs your attention – whether you like it or not.

Have you ever stopped your daily havoc and tried to listen for a few minutes? Listen to the twitter of the birds. Listen to the winds blowing powerfully or the rain hitting the pavement rhythmically. Have you ever listened to the chatter coming out of your window or the highly pitched sound of enthusiastic children playing outside? Have you ever paid special attention to the sound of cars, trucks and motorcycles passing by the street and the different sound each vehicle produces. Have you ever stopped and paid attention to the wonderful melodies of life?

This week’s prompt is to take 15 minutes off of your busy day and take heed.

Relax, shut off the voices that are always rushing you through the day and listen. Pay attention to the different sounds that surround you each day without being noticed.

Today you will notice and you are going to write your impressions down. Make your writing colorful and full of all the emotions the sounds evoke. Try to encourage your reader with your writing to take a 15 minutes break as well and to listen. What sounds grabs your attention first? What sounds are the most beautiful and harmonic and which are just destructing?

It would be great if you shared your writing by leaving a comment to this post.

There is so much more in food than its taste, though it is important to pay attention to the wide spectrum of flavors in each bite we take. Food also smells and has different textures and evokes emotions and memories (Why else would the phrase “comfort food” become so commonly used).

This week I invite you to enhance your eating experience by paying special attention to food and write about it. In your observation, use all five senses:

What does the food smell like?

What noise does the food make when you bite into it?

Which flavors does the food have? (What sensations does the food bring to your taste buds?)

What texture does the food have?

How does the food look like?

Don’t stop there, keep on documenting – Does this food bring up any memories? How does it make you feel after eating it? Does eating this food make you feel like a part of a group? A part of a family? A part of a unique culture? Write everything down (Adding photos can help for future reminiscing).

You are more than welcome to share your food observation with me. Just leave a comment below with your food-story or a link to your blog.

This is the second prompt dealing with observations. Last week’s prompt dealt with observing people and this week’s prompt is all about observing the environment.

The environment is the setting of our stories. Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, whether we tell our own story or other people’s stories – the environment plays an important role in adding depth to the story. Adding details about the environment anchors the story and gives it a strong base.

The environment is built out of many different parts: physical surroundings, atmosphere, weather etc. The environment portrays the view coming out of your window, as well as whether you live in a big city or in a small town, whether it is winter time or summer time, whether you are in a relaxed environment or in a busy one, the time of day the story takes part in and how the environment looks different at this time. All of these details and more are part of the description of an environment.

This description can also include special traditions, culture, typical smells, colors, textures and any other little detail that makes the place unique.

This week’s prompt is to describe an environment – either your everyday surrounding or a place which is special or remarkable to you. Try to capture as much details as possible and to include as many different aspects of the environment as possible.

The first two prompts were all about you. Your family. Your secret wishes. Today the prompt is dealing with your ability to observe other people.

The ability to observe is extremely important for any writer. Developing an eye for the small details creates much more vivid and vibrant stories. This skill is also important for commemorating bits and pieces of your life and the life of your loved ones. Stories which will be greatly valued in the future.

Some people are born with good observation skills but they can be also easily acquired. All you have to do is to watch and listen. Keep an open eye for all the small details that are illusive at first glance. For instance, noticing if a stranger walking down the street is happy or sad, relaxed or mad, taking his time or in a hurry.

This week’s journaling prompt is getting you outside to a place where you are likely to meet with strangers. It can be the train station, the grocery store or the park. Go outside and open a watchful eye (be careful not to look like – or become – a stalker. There’s a difference between ‘observing’ and ‘following around’ and you should stick to the former).

Don’t forget to grab a pen and a journal and write down all your small observations. When you feel that you have picked up enough information, write a short imaginary story about one ore more of the figures you have ran into. In this story don’t forget to use your observations and blend it with the plot you have made up.